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What is Baosteel, a top Chinese steelmaker, doing in Brazil? The company is responding to the Chinese government's "go global" policy and to the possible rise in iron ore input costs. But steel mills are complex, capital-intensive projects, and Brazil is an emerging market that poses manifold risks to foreign investors. Vale do Rio Doce, Baosteel's prospective partner, is an iron miner with little experience in steelmaking. Baosteel must evaluate whether it is choosing the right company, and site for its first overseas greenfield investment.

The case captures the challenges Komatsu, the second largest manufacturer of the earth moving equipment faced during the past five decades as it sought to globalize its operations. By 2007, it had become the second largest manufacturer of the earth moving equipment with more than 80% of its sales coming from outside of Japan. It has built a network of plants, distributors and service centers around the world. Senior management is convinced that a major reason for its success is its culture, recently articulated as the Komatsu Way. The central issue in the case is how to transmit and embed it to its far flung operations throughout the world.